What the Real Estate Industry Can Learn from Long Island Divided?

The Real Estate School
Section2:
What the Real Estate
IndustryCan Learn from
‘Long Island Divided’
Risk Management inToday’s Real Estate Business
3.5 Hours of Continuing Education

Want a copy of
today’s
presentation?
EmailTracy Matroni and request the link
tmatroni@LCARonline.com
5/23/2023 The Real Estate School of the Lancaster County Association of REALTORS® 2

ForStarters...
Write your name on a piece of
paper or on the back of your
business card . . . . . . now use your other
hand to write your name

How did you feel?
Right-handed Left-handed

What is ‘Long
Island
Divided?’
Undercover fair housing investigation from
April 2016 to August 2017 by
 25 trained, undercover testers
 93 real estate agents tested
 240 hours of meetings secretly recorded
 5,763 house listings analyzed

NationallyRecognizedExpertsinFairHousing
• Co-founded the Fair
Housing Justice Center in
2004
• Led a national testing
program for the Civil
Rights Division of the
United States
Department of Justice
• Coordinated more than
12,000 fair housing tests
Fred Freiberg Robert Schwemm
• Professor of Law at the
University of Kentucky
College of Law
• Author of “Housing
Discrimination: Law and
Litigation”

ResultsofInvestigation
 Clear evidence of widespread separate and unequal
treatment of minority potential homebuyers and
minority communities
 The house hunting process revealed substantial
instances of steering and discrimination
 Long Island’s dominant residential brokerage firms
helped to solidify racial separations

Newsday’sMinorityTesters
Martine Hackett
Professor
Kelvin Tune
Federal Contractor
Jesus Rivera
Student
Ashley Creary
Actor
Johnnie Mae Alston
Retired State Worker
Lenora Smith
Nurse
Liza Colpa
Yoga instructor
Alex Chao
Actor
Eugene Cha
Actor
Nana Ponceleon
Actor
Niguel Williams-Easter
Actor
Payal Mehta
Actor
Pedro Jimenez
Programmer
Ryan Sett
Actor
Sarai Korpacz
Compliance Specialist

Newsday’sWhiteTesters
Cindy Parry
Attorney
Kimberly Larkin
Battista
Teacher
Brittany Silver
Actor
Steven Makropoulos
Actor
Gabriel Kennedy
Actor
Gretchen Olson Kopp
Consultant
Lizzy Lee
Actor
Richard Helling
Administrator
Anthony Congiano
Actor
Larry Samuels
Business Manager

PairedTesting
 Endorsed by federal and state courts, paired testing is recognized as the
sole viable method for detecting violations of fair housing laws by agents
 Example:
 Two testers separately solicit an agent’s
assistance in buying houses – one tester
is white and one is a minority
 Present similar financial profiles
 Request identical terms for houses
in the same areas
 Agent’s actions are then reviewed

As permitted by law, all tests were
recorded on hidden cameras to ensure
accuracy in describing interactions
between agents and customers *
NOTE: It is illegal in the State of Pennsylvania to
record audio of an individual without their consent
*

ResultsoftheInvestigation
40% of the tests subjected minority testers to disparate treatment when
compared with white testers
 49% of Black testers experienced disparate treatment
 39% of Hispanic testers experienced disparate treatment
 19% of Asian testers experienced disparate treatment
So what happened and what can we learn?

TheReport
 Watch it on
https://youtu.be/wqN-D3f49fE
 Read it on
https://projects.newsday.com/
long-island/real-estate-
agents-investigation/

Steering

SteeringinToday’sRealEstateMarket
 Blatant racial steering by real estate agents has largely receded from view
since the civil rights revolution

SteeringinToday’sRealEstateMarket
 In the absence of treatment that’s more overt, individual home seekers
will never have potentially any reason to suspect discrimination

Schools as the
Center of
Attention

FindingsAboutSchoolsDuringInvestigation
 In 86 paired tests (35%), many agents highlighted a schools perceived
quality when recommending -or- not recommending locations

FindingsAboutSchoolsDuringInvestigation
 Many agents gave opinions regarding schools
to some testers but not others

Review of
Actual Paired
TestCases

TheBlackExperience
An agent suggests five Plainview homes to a
white house hunter – but tells a black home
buyer that houses with the same market value in
that location are out of his price range
TEST
67
An agent takes a white customer on house
tours without requesting identification – but
asks a black house hunter to show ID
TEST
76

TheBlackExperience
An agent warns a white home buyer about gang
violence in Brentwood – but directs the black
house hunter toward the predominantly minority
community without mentioning this
TEST
96
An agent warns a white customer to avoid
investing in Freeport – but suggests the
predominantly minority village could be a good
choice for a black customer
TEST
45

TheHispanicExperience
An agent complains to a white house hunter
that fair housing laws bar him from warning
buyers away from certain communities, offers
the customer choices in predominantly white
areas and directs a Hispanic house hunter to
predominantly minority communities.
TEST
42

TheHispanicExperience
An agent tells a Hispanic house hunter that he helps customers
only after they sign an exclusive broker’s agreement and secure
mortgage preapprovals. The agent provides listings and tours to a
white house hunter without requiring either document.
TEST
78
An agent tells a white customer that he “might be more
comfortable in a certain demographic area,” says she is barred
from talking about demographics – but adds her colleague will
educate the customer, whom she describes as a “stand-up guy.”
TEST
87

TheAsianExperience
A white tester was warned that there are ‘a lot
of Asian people in Great Neck’ while making no
reference of the makeup of the ethnicity or race
of the location to an Asian tester
TEST
11
An agent directs a white tester away from
Huntington calling it a ‘mixed neighborhood’
and a ‘mini, mini United Nations’ but does
not mention it to an Asian tester
TEST
32

How to
Respond to
Real-life
Questions

Aretheschoolsinthisneighborhoodgood?
“School information changes year to year,
so it’s best to go straight to the source. You
can find plenty of information online or by
speaking with an administrator at the
school you’re considering.”

Aretheschoolsinthisneighborhoodgood?
(www.Niche.com) (www.GreatSchools.org) (www.NARRPR.com)
Restricted to NAR Members

Whatiscrimelikeinthisarea?
“There is plenty of information online
about crime data and trends in different
ZIP codes. As a real estate professional, I
know that statistics don’t always tell the
whole story and that neighborhoods can
vary widely, even within the same ZIP
code. I don’t see it as my role to make
determinations about public safety.”

Whatiscrimelikeinthisarea?
(www.SpotCrime.com) (www.AreaVibes.com)

Idon’twantaneighborhoodwithabunchofchildrenrunning
around. Canyouhelpmefindaplacewithnokids?
“Our MLS doesn’t identify neighborhoods
based on the number of children, so I don’t
have that data to share with you. If you’re
looking for a neighborhood with other
retirees, I can show you a home in a 55+
active adult community.”

Wewon’tsellourhousetothosetypeofpeople?
“As a real estate professional, it’s my job to
help you find the right buyer for your
home. That means finding someone who is
financially qualified to see the transaction
all the way to the closing table and getting
you the best price and terms I can for your
home. All citizens of the United States are
bound by fair housing laws that prohibit
discrimination in the sale or rental of
housing.”

TipsforWorkingWithBuyers
• Pre-qualification / initial meeting
• Choosing property to show
• Providing demographic data
(www.Census.gov)

TipsforWorkingWithSellers
• Listing property
• Choosing the buyer
• Love letters

5/23/2023 35
Whattodoifyouthinkyou’rebeingtested?
The Real Estate School of the Lancaster County Association of REALTORS®
• If you have prepared yourself ahead of time –
just relax and B-R-E-A-T-H-E
• Take good notes

WheninDoubt...
. . . always seek the
advice of your broker
or manager

Mid-year
Conference
May 2023

FairHousingTraining
• Required 2 hours of Fair Housing training every
3 years beginning in 2025
• Condition of membership

FairHousingTraining

“People generally see
what they look for, and
hear what they listen for.”
Harper Lee
Author of
To Kill a Mockingbird

SOURCES
Brambila, AndreaV. “NARVotes to Require Fair HousingTraining for 1.5M Realtors.” Inman, 11 May 2023,
www.inman.com/2023/05/12/nar-votes-to-require-fair-housing-training-for-all-1-5m-realtors/.
Choi, Ann, et al. “Undercover Investigation Reveals Evidence of UnequalTreatment by Real Estate Agents.” Edited
by Arthur Browne, Newsday, 18 Aug. 2021, https://projects.newsday.com/long-island/real-estate-agents-
investigation/#open-paywall-message.
Murdock, Christy. “Avoid Fair HousingViolations: How to Respond to Sticky FAQs.” Inman.com, Inman News, 23
Feb. 2022, https://www.inman.com/2022/02/23/avoid-fair-housing-violations-how-to-respond-to-sticky-faqs/.

What the Real Estate Industry Can Learn from Long Island Divided?

Recomendados

Recomendados

Mais conteúdo relacionado

Último

Último (20)

Destaque

Destaque (20)

What the Real Estate Industry Can Learn from Long Island Divided?